like
them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will
give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in
the race of nations. The Romans probably had as much of these
efficacious virtues as any race of the ancient world,--perhaps as much
as any race in the modern world too. And the success of the nations
which possess these martial virtues has been the great means by which
their continuance has been secured in the world, and the destruction of
the opposite vices insured also. Conquest is the missionary of valour,
and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.

In the last century it would have sounded strange to speak, as I am
going to speak, of the military advantage of RELIGION. Such an idea
would have been opposed to ruling prejudices, and would hardly have
escaped philosophical ridicule. But the notion is but a commonplace in
our day, for a man of genius has made it his own. Mr. Carlyle's books
are deformed by phrases like 'infinities' and 'verities' and altogether
are full of faults, which attract the very young, and deter all that
are older. In spite of his great genius, after a long life of writing,
it is a question still whether even a single work of his can take a
lasting place in high literature. There is a want of sanity in their
manner which throws a suspicion on their substance (though it is often
profound); and he brandishes one or two fallacies, of which he has
himself a high notion, but which plain people will always detect and
deride. But whatever may be the fate of his fame, Mr. Carlyle has
taught the present generation many lessons, and one of these is that
'God-fearing' armies are the best armies. Before his time people
laughed at Cromwell's saying, 'Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.'
But we now know that the trust was of as much use as the powder, if not
of more. That high concentration of steady feeling makes men dare
everything and do anything.

This subject would run to an infinite extent if any one were competent
to handle it. Those kinds of morals and that kind of religion which
tend to make the firmest and most effectual character are sure to
prevail, all else being the same; and creeds or systems that conduce to
a soft limp mind tend to perish, except some hard extrinsic force keep
them alive. Thus Epicureanism never prospered at Rome, but Stoicism
did; the stiff, serious character of the great prevailing nation was
attra